Yea, but really...what is the best mastering compressor?

I'm all ears.

 

Manley SLAM, Shadow Hills MFR, Focusrite Red3.
Expensive but unbeaten. I own the Manley & Red3, still worth their weight in gold.
Good calbing required.

 

+1 one for the Red3 i own one for long time now... an even tho i use it more as a mix compressor than a mastering tool it can do both for what i need >>>their are no rules ;) I also agree that Good Cabling is a must ... an if anyone is using hardware never skimp in this area. clean an pristine lowest noise you can achieve ;)

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2018

My go-to mastering compressors are Vertigo VSC-2 and Elysia alpha master. Usually i go for attack 30ms, release 100ms, ratio 2:1, sidechain filter 90hz, gain reduction 1-1.5dbFS and I unlink left and right on the Vertigo. On the Elysia I use it as a mid-side compressor. The only thing I change from the default setting is the attack time except the threshold obviously. I set the attack at 88ms and I again unlink the mid and side so that it works in M-S mode. I reach out for a gain reduction of 0.5-1db.

This seems to be subtle but it really tightens up most mixes.

 

Fabfilter Pro-MB